My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Psalm 22, verses 1 through 5. Brothers and sisters, if at any time you have felt far away, lost, or perhaps abandoned by God, this message is for you; this message is for us. And perhaps this psalm will sound very familiar to you, Psalm 22.

“…My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?…”

Let us stop there. Where have we heard those words before? The Lord, right? On the cross. In fact, the Gospels declare that these were perhaps his final words before he commended his spirit to the Lord.

“…My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me and from the words of my cry? My God, I cry out by day, and you do not answer…”

Does that sound familiar to some of you? “…I cry out by day, and you do not answer, and by night, and I find no rest. Yet you are holy, you who dwell among the praises of Israel. In you our fathers put their hope… —let us take heart, my brothers and sisters— …They hoped, and you delivered them; they cried out to you and were delivered; they trusted in you and were not put to shame…”

My brothers and sisters, there is a profound message here, but allow me to share a story with you. How many of you like police stories? Law & Order, CSI—brothers and sisters, this may sound like an allegory, but it happened, and it happened to me. And to me it is like a parable of this word, so listen to this. At the very least, I will entertain you with this story.

Last Wednesday, through carelessness, I left my office open for not even five minutes. And someone entered my office and, sadly, stole my phone, my computer, and my backpack. But this story ends well, okay. Do not be alarmed. It has a happy ending. It is a story with a happy ending, although so far it is not very happy, and I was not very happy either, Christian though I was.

But look: he took my phone, my computer, and my backpack, but my phone has a GPS system that directed the police to the place where this person was, and at police headquarters they saw a satellite map of the location, with a little blue dot representing my poor phone.

At headquarters they saw this satellite map and this little blue dot, as though the phone were saying, “Here I am; rescue me. Over here. Help!” And brothers and sisters, that little dot was over a seven-story building with 150 apartments; that little dot was not all that precise. But the Spirit of God led these police officers precisely to this person’s apartment. I cannot explain to you how. And when they were nearby, these police officers asked for an electronic signal to be sent to the phone, which made the phone emit a noise like a sounding beep, indicating where it was. Do you understand me?

In other words, they had the ability to send a signal to the phone by computer, and it was as though the phone were saying, “Here I am, here I am, beep-beep-beep-beep.” My brothers and sisters, can you believe that they heard that beep through the door of the apartment they had chosen, and the thief became so frightened that he threw my phone out of a seventh-floor window? Listen, God really loves me, because this thing fell onto a mound of grass and not onto the sidewalk. Can you believe that?

Look, not even CSI could make this up. You have not seen this on Law & Order. When you do see it, you will know where they stole it from. Listen, and within three hours of the theft, they returned my phone, my computer, my backpack, and a new disciple for the prison ministry of Congregation Lion of Judah.

Glory to God. Praise him. I feel as if I were a sick man lifting up my crutches; here I lift up the phone for the glory of the Lord. But look, okay, Pastor Samuel, very interesting. Nice. What do I get out of that? Find an iPhone, sorry. That is not the message.

This is the message. Returning to Psalm 22, those of us who, like me, have prayed, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” For how many of you has that been a prayer from time to time: “Why have you forsaken me? Where am I?”

There are a couple of things the Lord tells me through this word. And if you will allow me to share them with you. A couple of principles. If at any time you have felt this way, I commend these three things to you as a word from the Lord for you. This is the Lord’s answer.

When you complain and say, “But why does the Lord not answer me? Why do I feel so far away? Or how dare I present myself in the Lord’s presence now?” Perhaps that is your situation.

If that is you, take note of these three things. First, no matter how lost or how far away you feel, you still belong to God; you still belong to God even if you feel far from his hands. Perhaps you feel far from his hands, but you still belong to God.

Through carelessness, my brothers and sisters, my property fell into a thief’s hands; it fell into someone else’s hands. But understand: merely because it fell into someone else’s hands, did it cease to be my property? Do you understand? It did not cease to be my property.

Incidentally, we have to guard ourselves. That is another thing the Lord tells me. A professional thief needs very little opportunity. And the Word says that Satan is a professional thief. The Lord says, speaking of Satan, that the thief came only to kill and steal and destroy, and that is Satan.

In fact, when I saw the video of this person at work, I even admired him; he was very professional. It was incredible how efficiently he took advantage of the time and space to carry these things away.

So, brothers and sisters, first understand this: let us not be careless. Let us begin with that. Satan needs only the smallest opening to take advantage of us and impoverish our lives with his presence. But even if we fall for a moment “into the hands of the enemy,” let us stay with that phrase for a moment.

Even if through carelessness you were to fall into the hands of the enemy for a time, know this: you still belong to God. The enemy may have possession, but he does not hold the title, and it is the title that establishes ownership.

You know, the kingdom of heaven is governed in many ways in the same way that we govern our affairs. There are spiritual laws to which Satan is subject. And here you have an example: it is very common, let us say, during an experience of rebuking demons, that the Holy Spirit almost always brings about the moment of freedom for that life when the person who has been oppressed by the enemy is asked, “And whose are you? Who is your Lord?” And there is almost always a moment of deliverance when that person, no matter how oppressed by the enemy, professes with their lips, “Jesus Christ is my Lord.”

No matter how oppressed you are by the enemy, we still belong to God. Point number one.

Point number two: God has not lost sight of you. God has not lost sight of us. He has not lost sight of you. Perhaps you wake up in a strange environment—and this happens many times—and I hope that if you are here and this is your situation and you find yourself in the house of the Lord, or perhaps if you have tuned in over the Internet, and you have heard yourself say, “God will never find me here. I was careless; I left the door open to Satan. He is a thief; he took advantage, came in, and stole my dignity, my holiness, my integrity. And in this spiritual place, God will never find me.”

You know, even in that situation, understand this: God knows precisely where you are, because your prayers—even that anxious longing, “Oh, if only the Lord could hear me. If only the Lord knew where I am”—you know, to God, that is the pin on the little map indicating where you are.

Think of it this way: from the day you became God’s property, from the day you declared—and brothers and sisters, I invite you, if you do not remember ever telling the Lord this so clearly—“Lord, I invite you to be my God. I want to be your property. I want to be your property, Jesus.”

Well, my brothers and sisters, from the moment the Lord purchased you with his blood and made you his property, he marked your soul with an invisible GPS. And even if you find yourself in a situation surrounded by… in a strange place, know that the Lord knows precisely where you are, and he has already begun the process of rescuing you. You will not see it; that is the thing.

Imagine that you are my phone, and suddenly you wake up and there are strange people around you; you are in a strange apartment. “Where am I? Five minutes ago I was at Congregation Lion of Judah, and who are these people? And where is this apartment? Help me!” And there you send out that pin, but you do not see God; you only know what is happening around you. You do not realize that police officers and detectives are looking for you.

You know, in the same way, you do not realize everything God is doing to rescue you. You do not realize everything God is doing to get you out of the mess you are in. You have no idea. You do not know that he is moving heaven and earth to bring you out of precisely the place where you find yourself.

But as I tell you, brothers and sisters, even in the spiritual realm there is a process. The Lord is following a process; even your presence here tonight is part of that process. The Lord has already begun the plan to rescue you. Even if you do not feel it, even if you do not hear it, even if you do not feel that you are in his hands, he is aware of you, and his purpose is to rescue you.

My brothers and sisters, and if that is so, it is very, very important that you not lose hope. Keep sending the pin to the Lord. Do not let yourself go; that is why, my brothers and sisters, it is so important that we not let ourselves be carried away by our emotions. The enemy is an expert at this. While you are in that strange environment, the enemy will convince you: “You know what? Now you belong to me. Forget it. How is he going to find you here? How is a holy God going to find you in our midst?”

Do yourself a favor: ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him. You woke up with breath in your lungs; use the last breath in your lungs to raise a prayer to Jehovah. As long as there is breath in your lungs, as long as you have the ability to see and think and walk, use every ability you have to send that pin to Jehovah: “Lord, here I am.”

Brothers and sisters, and finally, know this: I told you that there is a rescue process. And this is a very important element of that process. Pay attention to the signals the Lord is sending you. Let us pay attention to the voice of the Lord. Let us pay attention to God’s call.

You know, the official police report had a very interesting paragraph that said the guards—the police officers—heard the phone emit a unique sound, “a unique sound,” it says. It was different, let us say, from a phone’s normal sound. I could play it for you, but I do not want twenty police officers to show up tonight. I thought about it, but it’s not a good idea.

But it was a sound unique to this phone. And you know what? The Word of God says that his sheep know his voice; they know his voice. And brother, if you are here, perhaps you are one of those who feels, “Pastor, I am here, but spiritually I am in a strange place. I do not understand how the Lord is going to find me here, and I have felt far from the Lord’s hands for a long time.”

But you are here, and if you are here, perhaps it is because the Lord has just sent you his signal, which is his voice saying, “My son, my daughter, where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where have you gotten yourself?”

Brothers and sisters, I urge you: know his voice. Know the voice of the Lord. And you know, “Pastor, what is this voice like? What accent does God have?” Perhaps when we speak of the voice of the Lord—actually, do you know what that feels like, how I would translate it? I would call it—how do you know that the Lord has been speaking to you? How do you know that the Lord has been sending you a signal? How do you know that it is meant for you?

Do you know what it is? This may be a phrase I made up, but I commend it to you. It is through what I would call a divine discomfort. I do not know whether you understand me. A divine discomfort; that is, no matter how lost you feel, no matter how disoriented you feel, there is no way you can wake up in that place—and I have seen people of whom one would say, “But how did that person end up in church? When they should be, let us say, in the hospital or in an insane asylum, or wherever—how did they end up in church?” Do you know why? Something, a fragment of their mind and consciousness, awoke like the prodigal son and said, “But am I not supposed to be somewhere else? This is not my home. This is not normal.” And Satan may be telling you, “Yes, this is your new home. Yes, this is normal. Yes, this is where you ought to be.”

But something inside you is telling you, “No, no, no, no. This is not what I have for you. No. No. This is not your future. No. No. These guys are not your friends. No. No. No. This environment is not for you. No, no, no. I made you for something else.” Have you heard that little voice? Perhaps it is a discomfort. The voice is not even telling you, “Go to church,” but that little voice inside you is telling you, “Wherever it is, it’s not here. Wherever you are, this is not where you belong.” God’s signal.

God’s pin. And miraculously, perhaps as though in a dream, here you are. My brothers and sisters, when you hear God’s signal, even if you are mistaken, tell the Lord, “Spirit of God, find me. Spirit of God, rescue me. Spirit of God, get me out of here. I know in my heart that this is not your purpose for me. I know in my heart that these chains are not your purposes for me. Lord, perhaps I do not know where I ought to be, but I do know it is not here. Direct me to where I ought to be.”

Let us stand. And I invite the musicians to accompany me at this moment. The worshipers. Perhaps, you know, even while the Lord was giving me this message, I imagined someone on the Internet watching this message, tuning in at two or three in the morning, experiencing a divine discomfort. Are you listening?

I declare this prophetically—are you listening? Now I feel like [unintelligible]. I don’t know whether it’s two or three in the morning; I don’t know whether you’re alone; I don’t know whether you’re watching me on your phone and your phone is down to its last bars; and God alone knows what has been planned for you or what lie Satan has thrown at you. But know this: it is no coincidence that you have heard this message.

You are experiencing a divine discomfort. You are lost, and the Lord is looking for you, because your home is His presence, not merely where you are. I don’t know—perhaps some of you find yourselves in that situation tonight. You know what? Will you allow me to be so bold?

Perhaps we will leave without praying with anyone, but God forbid—God forbid that I should fail to extend this invitation. There may be someone here who says, “Pastor Sam, that is me. Pastor Samuel, that is me. I know that I am experiencing God’s signal. I have felt lost, but here I am. Here I am, but I don’t know how far this will go.”

“Pastor Samuel, I want to make sure tonight that I am God’s property. I’m His property. I know that I have felt His location pin. I simply want to respond, and from this point forward, let God hear from you, because these are good things.” God has not forsaken you. First of all, I want to burst that bubble of Satan’s. God has not forsaken you.

He has not lost sight of you. He knows where you are. If that is you, I invite you to raise your hand; I want to pray for you. Raise your hand. Glory to God, sister. Blessed be the Lord. God bless you, my brothers and sisters. Keep your hands raised. God bless you.

Lord, come and meet us. Lord, come and meet us. Tell Him that from the bottom of your heart. Spirit of God, come and meet me. My soul cries out to You; hear, Lord, the voice of my cry. Hear it, hear it, Lord, in the name of Jesus.

Lord, Your Word declares that You will reconcile parents with their children. Lord, nothing and no one here has been lost; everyone is here and safe. And in the name of Jesus, anything Satan has tried to steal from the lives of my brothers and sisters—Lord, any attempted theft the enemy has tried to carry out against my brothers and sisters—I declare it, Lord, I declare it null and void in the name of Jesus.

And Lord, I come back into Your presence; I once again declare and establish in You the title to their souls, the title to their lives, the title to their future, the title, Father, to Your dreams, as though nothing had been lost—nothing, Lord—with no interruption of Your grace, in the name of Jesus.

Father, take them into Your hands and seal them. We declare, Master, that even if we make our bed in the [inaudible], Your eye will see us there. Lord, even the darkness is like light to You, and no one can hide from Your sight. In Your presence, we celebrate that we are Your property, that You are a jealous owner, and that You promise to protect us from any thief who seeks to steal us away from the One who alone has the right to possess us.

May Your children lie down in safety tonight, knowing that there is a God watching over them and angels encamped around them, guarding them from all evil. Guard their hearts in the name of Jesus. Lord, we receive Your presence; we receive Your protection. Go with us, Jesus, and do not let go of us for any reason, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Glory to God.